There are plenty of imponderables when doing a Kitchen Invasion.
The creative challenge is not always limited to blending ingredients together for a yummy result, it may also be on the lack of sharp knives, the missing blender, or, and this may be the worse, the archaic malfunctioning oven.
My Life Spicing accomplice Marieluise had requested my help for the launch of her 52-week challenge – you can check it out in ‘guest spices’ too. I arrived on that January 7th 2016 eagerly looking forward to cooking and chatting with her prior to the great night ahead.
I
was excited to prepare the main: a goat cheese and mint quiche. It has a very subtle and refine taste that would go very well with champagne, and everyone always loves it. It is also easy and fast to prepare: as I had little time to cook before the event, it was key. Knowing I would struggle with time, I even resigned myself to not prepare the pastry myself. The shopping list was emailed to Marieluise and everything was ready for me in the kitchen:
Goat Cheese & Mint Quiche
For 25 people:
– 3 easy-roll shortcrust pastry dough (or if you can, your home-made dough)
– 1l of milk
– 750ml of crème fraiche
– 750g of goat cheese
– 500g grated mild cheese
– 10 eggs
– 3 bunches fresh mint
– salt & pepper
After mixing milk, crème fraiche, and eggs, I added the goat cheese, the chopped fresh mint, the salt and pepper, and gave a quick mix with a blender. I lined two baking trays with baking paper, then the pastry and poured the mix on top, covering with grated cheese on top as a finishing touch.
It all looked perfect, until it was time to put the quiche in the oven. It would normally cook for about 35-45 minutes in the oven at 200°C, but…
The challenging oven.
It was not the first time I had to deal with a gaz oven which still worked with a high flame lit up at the back. It gets trickier when only the bottom flame one works, not the top one, and when the grill is failing too. We also had a ‘slight’ issue with the door not closing as I would need for the quiche tray I used.
And so was required some imagination:
– to keep the door as close as possible: a kitchen towel blocked as we could (as you can see on the picture with Marieluise)
– to cook the part of the tray that had not been by the flame: bake the first part, cut it out, push the second part towards the back of the second part and cook it.
Result: It worked! Not only was the quiche perfectly cooked, it even had a crunchy base everyone raved about.
The main course was a hit! Most importantly, the party was a success and it was a fun night among friends.
So, Marieluise, if you want me to give a challenge your oven again, I will say yes!
Thank you for reading.
Yours, Virginie.